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Youngstown school board reject hiring more counsel
YOUNGSTOWN
The tumultuous Youngstown Board of Education failed to pass a resolution to hire additional legal counsel with a 3-3 vote.
Currently, the board maintains legal counsel through the Roth, Blair, Roberts, Strasfeld and Lodge law firm.
Corinne Sanderson, board member, proposed the board appoint Smith Peters Kalail to provide legal services to the board.
Several board members have vocalized their discontent with CEO Krish Mohip hiring multiple lawyers “unnecessarily,” they say.
Mohip has Enis Britton and BakerHostetler on staff to “handle day-to-day school district matters” and labor issues, respectively, said district spokeswoman Denise Dick.
“We just got on the CEO about doing this,” said Michael Murphy, board vice president and one of the no votes. Board member Ronald Shadd and board president Brenda Kimble also voted no. Board members Jackie Adair, Dario Hunter and Sanderson voted in its favor.
Murphy suggested the board review more firms as a group before agreeing to hire a firm.
Hunter, however, called the process Murphy suggested “thumb twiddling.”
Dick said despite what the board decides in regard to appointing a law firm, the official decision will fall upon Mohip because it will require money, and financial responsibility lies with the CEO.
Mohip was put in control of the city school district under House Bill 70, implemented in 2015. Mohip is in charge of the district’s finances – with the exception of a tax levy – among several other branches under the auspices of the academic distress commission.
In other business, board member Adair gave a 15-minute speech describing her vexation with The Vindicator’s reporting.
Adair said she unsubscribed more than a year ago because of the newspaper’s “one-sided and incorrect reporting.”
On The Vindicator’s website July 11, a headline incorrectly attributed a resolution proposal to Adair rather than Sanderson. The story correctly named Sanderson, and the headline was corrected hours later.
The resolution proposed by Sanderson would have resulted in the board no longer recognizing Mohip’s authority. It was tabled that night.
Still, Adair demanded Tuesday night that The Vindicator print a retraction for its “slanderous mistake.”
“I’m taking this opportunity in front of the few folks that chose to come to the meeting today to express my discontent with the lies that have been printed in that paper about me,” she said. She did not elaborate.